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City Islanders looking to continue late-season surge, move closer to playoffs with win this weekend at Rochester

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Harrisburg City Islanders head coach Bill Becher (center), shown during a match earlier this season, hopes to move his club even closer to the playoffs with a victory this weekend in Rochester. Assistant coaches Steve Widdowson and Dave Kern are to Becher's left.
(Daniel Zampogna, PennLive.com)

While the Harrisburg City Islanders may have just four regular-season matches remaining in the 2014 season, Bill Becher's club definitely is pleased about having control of its not-so-distant USL PRO future.

As in qualifying for the league's eight-team playoff party.

Should the fifth-place City Islanders (11-10-6 overall, 9-9-6 in league play) win out — and that means claiming three road victories — Becher's outfit can finish no worse than sixth. And that would mean reaching postseason play for the fourth year in a row and the ninth time in the franchise's 11 seasons.

Bill Becher, shown here, knows his City Islanders need another win this weekend in Rochester to improve their playoff position.PennLive.com files

"We're sitting in fifth place and we control our destiny at this point," Becher said following Wednesday's workout at Central Dauphin Middle School. "Obviously, a home playoff game is probably out of reach — for that to happen we'd have to win out and we'd have to get some help — but that's what we're gonna do.

"We're gonna push as hard as we can to get as high as we can," Becher continued. "If fifth place is as high as we can get, then that's where we'll go. We want to finish on a roll here and get to the best spot we can get."

On an uptick since late July — the City Islanders are 6-2-3 in their last 11 league matches — Becher's club needs to continue its second-half surge Saturday night at struggling Rochester if it hopes to maintain control of its postseason situation.

Skippered by former Harrisburg Heat star and Hershey Wildcats head coach Bob Lilley — the Carlisle High School product is Becher's former teammate and a close friend — seventh-place Rochester (11-11-7, 8-10-7) is winless in its last four (0-3-1) matches since pitching a 1-0 shutout against league-leading Orlando late last month.

The Rhinos will visit Skyline Sports Complex on Aug. 30, completing a home-and-home set with the City Islanders carrying plenty of playoff implications.

"They're a good team and they've given up very few goals all year," Becher said of a Rhinos club that ranks second in the USL PRO in goals conceded (22). "Any team that Bobby coaches is going to be very disciplined and organized and tough to break down — and that's what they are. Now you add on to the fact that they've had a little bit of a rough stretch here, so they're going to have more desperation.

"And that's how we have to approach it. We have to approach it that we're desperate, that we have to get three points this game," Becher added. "We're not in the playoffs yet, so we do have to win. We have to put points together still, so we give ourselves a chance to win this championship."

While three points this weekend won't put the City Islanders into the playoffs just yet, a victory will move Harrisburg several steps closer.

"It's going to be an exciting couple of weeks, isn't it?" Becher wondered.

BASSO SIGNS WITH RICHMOND

Defender Stephen Basso, who spent the past three seasons playing for the City Islanders, has signed with the second-place Richmond Kickers for the remainder of the 2014 campaign. Richmond is unbeaten in its last 21 contests.

Former City Islanders defender Stephen Basso has signed with the second-place Richmond Kickers for the remainder of the 2014 season. Basso played three seasons for the City Islanders.PennLive.com files

Basso's agreement with the Kickers was announced on Tuesday. Tuesday was the final day USL PRO teams could sign players before rosters were frozen.

The City Islanders, who have been getting plenty of personnel help from Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union recently, did not add anyone.

As a member of the City Islanders, the 26-year-old Basso played in 62 games and scored four times. Parked mostly at left back, the Costa Rican-born Basso was part of the Harrisburg outfit that played in the 2011 USL PRO title game.

The City Islanders dropped that 2011 final, falling to Orlando in a penalty-kick shootout. Harrisburg tied the game 1-1 in the final moments of regulation, then took the lead in extra time before Orlando forged a 2-2 deadlock.